In recent years, a study for collecting data from a running vehicle and utilizing the data is conducted. For example, by collecting current positions and speed information from a plurality of vehicles, it is possible to generate traffic jam information on a real-time basis. Further, if the destination and route information of each vehicle are collected, it is possible to predict a traffic flow. In addition to these, if the cycle of a traffic signal is analyzed from collected data, it is possible to inform a driver of the remaining time of a green light so that unnecessary acceleration and deceleration can be prevented. Thus, by analyzing data collected from vehicles from various angles, it is possible to implement smooth traffic.
In order to collect data from vehicles, it is necessary to mount a wireless communication device on each vehicle. However, a mobile communications service such as 3G or LTE is not available in all vehicles due to the cost thereof. Although it is possible to transmit data by using a public wireless LAN, data can be uploaded only when the vehicle is in a service range.
In order to solve this problem, a method is available in which data is transferred by utilizing inter-vehicle communication. Specifically, in the method, vehicles transfer data to each other by utilizing a relatively inexpensive communication device of a wireless LAN or the like, and a vehicle capable of using the connection to a wide area network such as the Internet or the like uploads the data.
However, herein, the problem is encountered that importance is not placed on responsiveness in an authentication system currently used in the wireless LAN, and negotiation takes time. In a case where information is exchanged between vehicles, a communication time is limited, and hence the communication needs to be established as quickly as possible.
Technologies that solve this problem include communication standards described in Non Patent Literature 1. The standards achieve the speedup of an authentication process in wireless LAN standards (IEEE802.11), and the standardization thereof is promoted as IEEE802.11ai as of 2012. The standards implement high-speed negotiation by simplifying the individual sequences of location, authentication, and connection of a terminal in the conventional authentication process.